John 12:42-43 (RSV) "Nevertheless many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. "

Fr, Tarazi explains this by saying: “They valued their own self-interest more than the truth.”

Such has been our experience with the OCA scandal these past three years.

My question to the Council is this: Orthodoxy can exist (and has) in America without autocephaly. If the OCA were to cease to exist, Orthodoxy would continue to exist in America. So what is the justification for the existence of the autocephalous OCA? Why autocephaly? Are we simply another jurisdiction? If so then we serve no purpose and only contribute to the jurisdictional chaos of Orthodoxy in America.

But if there is reason for our existence, and the Columbus Deanery is the fruit and future of the autocephalous OCA, then we need to state that case. We need to bring it to bear on every parish and offer it as a light to all other jurisdictions in America. That is what the Council should be discussing.

But I don’t think that will happen with Herman as Metropolitan. He is a man without a vision and without a direction. Or, rather, it seems his only vision is to keep himself in office regardless of the impact on the OCA or on all of Orthodoxy in America. St. John Chrysostom, writing from exile, summed it up:

“When you hear that a church is plunged into destruction, shaken by temptations, struck by waves of trouble on in a state of unbearable sorrow, know that it is because she has a wolf instead of a shepherd, a pirate instead of a helmsman, a murderer instead of a physician as a bishop"